I should have been a bit more detailed. They are not generally uniform and are irregular in shape, but I said coin-size so no-one thought dots instead of spots. It's a bit hard to tell if there is hair loss - there is not much hair in that region anyway! And it is weird because on one inside leg he has been licking them and they are red around the edges, but on the other leg he hasn't! He has already been tested for thyroid problems - doesn't have any, and he is on Advocate so that takes care of mites and fleas. It is mid-winter here, so there is not much about, I would imagine, for him to be allergic to as well and our house situation has not changed at all, or his food. It's so weird. Since he was a young dog, he has had an amount of woolly hair dating from some mystery illness that was eventually put down to some autoimmune disorder (he limped, collapsed and got very skeletal). I don't know if that comes into this or not. He also has (since summer)a swollen region around his throat which he had a lot antibiotics and anti-inflammatories for and that helped a bit but it is still there. I suspect he has some non-malignant growth on his parathyroid gland: it's all I can think of. He's happy enough with the throat thing, but the spots baffle me. I never get much satisfaction out of the local vets: they charge a bomb and over-prescribe. What I need is an old vet who has been around for years and seen everything and has good lateral thinking and deductive abilities. Actually, that has given me a good idea: ring his breeder and go and see her vet. Does anyone have any ideas what his underlying problem could be ?
P.S. Forgot to thank you all for the suggestions already - I am investigating them. With the claritin, is that prescribed by a vet or is it the same as human antihistamine bought at the chemist? I used to take a product called Claratyne. How much do you give your dog?